Look Where She Points

by Emily Vieweg

Dear Emily,

What’s the most recent writing challenge you’ve tackled and how do you feel about it?

This October I worked with the Tupelo Press 30/30 project (writing 30 poems in 30 days) to raise money for their independent press. Unfortunately, I do not feel I was very successful – I raised only a portion of the moneys I had hoped to raise, and also did not complete the challenge to my own personal satisfaction.

Finding inspiration to write a poem-a-day during the National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) each April is one thing – creating a poem every day that is polished and ready for publication is quite another.

As a working single parent, “real life” impacts my ability to polish and edit work on a daily basis. I do not feel comfortable putting pieces out there that I feel have not been polished for publication. This challenge definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, made me think of publication early in the creation process, instead of allowing time for the poems to live and breathe for a while.

What is a guilty pleasure when it comes to your reading list and how much time do you dedicate to it?

Right now my regular reading routine consists of “Make Way for Ducklings” and “Pinkalicious” with my daughter at bedtime. Since she insists that I not skip pages, I must remain in the moment and present for both her enjoyment and my own. Being in the moment with a three-year-old is inspiring. It keeps me focused on what is most important in my life right now: my children and their happiness. Being silly with my daughter keeps me young and on my toes, and let me tell you about that laugh. If you’ve never heard a toddler’s belly laugh, it is pure joy. Seeing the light in a child’s eyes and knowing they are innocent and know nothing dangerous in the world – I wish we could keep our kids innocently wonderful like that.

​What’s the most powerful poem you’ve read lately?

Jericho Brown’s Bullet Points. I am not going to pretend to understand what it is like to grow up a gay black man in the USA. I am neither. I am female. My heritage is English and German, as white as white as white... so to hear words spoken by a man who has grown up in a world so different from mine... what can I say?Just look at that language, at the rhythm, the timbre, the tempo, and enjambment.Then look at the message. I am sad that I cannot relate, that I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be judged by the color of my skin, to be marked as immediately suspicious simply because I walked down the wrong street after dark. This is beyond my experience. I do not understand the pain, but I can feel it through the language he expresses.

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​Shadows

You become taller as the sun sets.Limbs grow from inches to yardsahead of me, and I get bigger too.

I think about things I’ve never done--never traveled out of the countryseen the sunset from L’Arc de Triomphe orheard the rain tickle the streets of Venice--

never felt a hot winter breeze in theKalahari or seenRomeo and Juliet at the Sydney Opera House--

haven’t tasted marinara in Sicily orstroked the wall in Berlin.

I have seen Illinois from the top of the Archat least thirty times andBusch Stadium will always be the best sitefor marching band competitions andKansas’ claim to fame isa thenumber of cows speckling thefields along the highway.

You run ahead to declarealready at three, you are a giant.

*2016 Art Young Memorial Award for Poetry – Honorable Mention

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What’s life like for a poet and playwright in Fargo, ND?

Poetry and playwriting are a – hobby is not the right word. A hobby is something you do when you have extra time. Whether I’m writing poetry, plays, CNF or flash fiction, it’s more than a hobby – it has to be. I have a full time job in an office, and when I can make time, I create my written words. I try to make time every day – between a full time job and raising two kids, doctor appointments, gymnastics practice – writing poetry is an escape. Creating a character in a play is getting my voice outside my head and onto paper, so I can fill my brain with more ideas and characters and language. When I put it down on paper the ideas are living things now. They are not inside me anymore; they live on their own.

As far as Fargo goes, there is a growing population of artists creating in town – literary, spoken word, visual, performance – we are finding our way and finding our place here.

I have found a wonderful theatrical community in town, with people who are gifted at finding the meaning behind the work. They are loyal to the text, and loyal to the message of the pieces they produce.

Do you have a favorite bookstore and venue that hosts literary events and serves as a sanctuary for local writers and artists?

There are fewer opportunities for poets to share their work than other creative arts in the area. The Red Raven Coffee House will host poetry readings upon request, and Drekker Brewing Company hosts “The Tell” on a monthly basis in downtown Fargo. Theatrical opportunities are strong in this area, though. There is a solid theatrical presence within the public and private high schools, the three major universities, the Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre, Theatre B, and Trollwood Performing Arts School. Though well-received, it is incumbent upon the poets themselves to organize, arrange, promote and publicize any poetry reading events.Unfortunately, the area’s sole MFA Writing program (Minnesota State University-Moorhead) has been eliminated due to budget and program cuts.

Who are your favorite playwrights and their best work in your opinion?

It broke my heart when Edward Albee passed this year. When I first read “The Goat, or, Who is Sylvia?” I fell over laughing. Here was a person who could take possible shunning for being gay, and write a play to say “Look, it coulda been worse! I coulda loved a goat!” Brilliant.I met Mr. Albee at a playwriting conference in Omaha, I think it was in 2006. He was there with other large names in theatre: Arthur Kopit, Romulus Linney, Will Eno, Tammy Grimes, Patricia Neal, I was surrounded by this group of amazingly talented people and thought, ‘what am I doing here?’

I shook Mr. Albee’s hand, told him what a huge fan of his I was, how honored I was to meet him, I realize now that I got all fan-girl silly, acting a fool. He was so gracious and humble; at that event, we were all just artists. There were no egos, no brown-nosing, no special cafeteria for the big names – we were all creators of art, we were colleagues.

I was afraid I’d break his hand, he seemed frail – smaller than I thought – but the moment he got on stage with Will Eno to do a reading, his presence filled the auditorium. I thought, ‘I want to fill a room like that.’ I wanted to fill a room and be humble at the same time. An impossible idea for some of us, but watching that man – it pushed me to know how possible it is to be both a huge presence, and a humble artist.

* published on The Basil O’Flaherty – Feminists’ Voice – November 2016

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Do you prefer to curl up with a good book or binge watch your favorite TV show? Which of the two helps more with your own writing?

I prefer binge-watching mindless reality TV, but it honestly does little for my writing. Reading classic plays is a release for me, living within form poetry helps to center my thinking, revisit my writing process and see what the writer intended to show through language.

Hearing other poets actually helps more with my own writing than reading does. I have an auditory creative mind, pulling inspiration from music, live performances in theatre, and spoken word poetry. My most recent poetry-listening binge consisted of finding recordings online of Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise. Her voice is like liquid caramel – soothing, calming, strong and inspiring.

What inspired your chapbook of poetry Look Where She Points?

Look Where She Points started as my Master’s Thesis project, a collection of work produced during my MFA program. I was not sure I could handle an online program, because the idea was so engrained in me to see others read my work, to hear how someone else would read the words as I wrote them – how could I express what I wanted to say without nonverbal cues? The online system required me to sharpen my writing abilities and critique in a way that was clear, concise, and committed.

The true inspiration for the writing within Look Where She Points comes from a lifetime of wanting to figure out who I am in relation to the world. You wouldn’t think it now, but I did not speak at school for the first half of kindergarten, I was so painfully shy. Shy of saying the wrong thing, of doing the wrong thing, disappointing someone – the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint anyone. I was so afraid of being judged by others that instead I just went inside myself. In sixth grade I went to the nurse’s office every day so I didn’t have to get bullied by the kids in my class. Still, I thought the world was a wonderful place and I must be doing something wrong for people to treat me so badly. I wasn’t cool enough or didn’t wear the right clothes, or didn’t do or say something the right way. Maybe if I tried harder people would like me.

When I went away to college I found something inside of me that said, “your voice matters.” I was exposed to people and issues that hadn’t affected me before. Issues like gay rights and mental health care and equal rights across the races. I came home for Thanksgiving and found that my voice was too loud for my old friends who had stayed home. I was told that I changed too much. I hadn’t changed, though – I just found a voice. This chapbook is a collection of work that has been building up over the past forty years.

There is a story inside all of us – a photo album of moments that define who we are. Look Where She Points is a collection of ideas, thoughts, memories and events that has shaped me into who I am. Not all the pieces are factual – I have been inspired by pieces of music, by first lines of others’ works, by performances on stage that have no relation to my personal life – but that inspiration sparked something inside saying ‘write about this – get this out – write that down.’What type of reader would enjoy your work the most? Where can readers easily access your writing?

I hope that people who are not quite sure about poetry will find my work approachable and easy to understand. The bulk of my writing is basically a series of photographs in words – expressing a moment in time in a way that others may not quite think about at first.I’ve been told my work is original in its delivery, because a scene is described in a way that does not need much investigation, however, there is an openness to the language that allows for interpretation.

I have a blog with a publications page I keep updated. Most of my publications are available online through my blog emilyvieweg.blogspot.com. My chapbook is available through Plan B Press at planbpress.com.

From a professional point of view, what are you most looking forward to in the days ahead?

I am thrilled that my chapbook is coming, it has been a year in the making. I have a spot set in the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge coming up in January, and several pieces in various states of completion to share as they become polished for publication.

I look forward to hopefully reading near Boston in May 2017, celebrating Into The Void’s Luminous Echoes: A Poetry Anthology collection. Into The Void is a nonprofit print and digital literary magazine based in Dublin, Ireland. They recently concluded their 2016 Poetry Competition. The Top 50 pieces are included in the anthology, and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Pieta House, an organization in Ireland that provides free therapy and emergency intervention to people who are feeling suicidal, self-harming or experiencing mental health crisis.

I want the opportunity to teach at the college level on a full-time basis, but more so, to find dedicated time to create poetry and other writings that are stuck inside. I have a full-length play itching to get out, and hours of classical music waiting to inspire scenes of poetry.​The ultimate goal is to have people hear my voice and understand where I am coming from. That’s the point of writing, of poetry, of the arts – to be shared with others, to make a statement, and to ultimately change the world.​